1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a novel composite catalyst and, more specifically, a catalyst including an inorganic oxide carrier and catalytic metal components supported thereon and useful for the production of an alcohol and an aldehyde by hydroformylation of an olefin with CO and H.sub.2. The present invention is also directed to a method of producing an alcohol and an aldehyde using the above catalyst.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As supported catalyst to be used for the hydroformylation of an olefin, there have thus far been proposed a catalyst containing rhodium supported on zeolite (J. Catal., 75, 188(1982)), a catalyst containing selenium-modified rhodium supported on zirconia (J. Chem.. Soc., Chem. Commun., 1327(1988)) and a catalyst containing rhodium supported on silica (Chem. Lett., 1917(1988)). These catalysts, which contain expensive rhodium as a major catalytic component, show a hydroformylation selectivity of as low as 40%.
As hydroformylation catalysts in which rhodium is not present or is a minor component, there have been proposed a catalyst containing nickel supported on an inorganic oxide (Proceedings of 9th International Congress on Catalysis, 513(1988)), a catalyst containing palladium, ruthenium, platinum, nickel or rhodium which is modified with sodium (Catalyst, 30, 488(1988) and J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun., 1403(1989)), a catalyst containing a ruthenium cluster or ruthenium-cobalt clusters, such as [NEt.sub.4 ][HRu.sub.3 (CO).sub.11 ], [NEt.sub.4 ][Ru.sub.3 (CO).sub.13 ], H.sub.3 Ru.sub.3 Co(CO).sub.13 or HRuCo.sub.3 (CO).sub.12, supported on activated carbon (Chem. Lett., 941(1987)) and a catalyst containing a trirutheniumketenylidene cluster of [PPN].sub.2 [Ru.sub.3 (CO).sub.9 (CCO)] supported on magnesia, silica or silica-alumina (Catal. Lett., 6, 361(1990)). With these catalysts, however, hydrogenation of olefins proceeds more rapidly than hydroformylation so that saturated hydrocarbons are produced as a major product with a low yield of the desired aldehyde and alcohol.